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(Human Rights Watch/IFEX) - New York, June 1, 2011 - The Chinese government's refusal to take responsibility for the massacre of unarmed civilians in June 1989 laid the foundation for the state impunity behind the current crackdown on dissent, Human Rights Watch said today.

For 22 years, the Chinese government has covered up the Tiananmen massacre and persecuted survivors, victims' relatives, and those who challenge the government's narrative of June 1989. That repression and its aftermath paved the way for the pre-emptive crackdown on activists and critics in the wake of the popular uprisings in the Middle East this year, Human Rights Watch said.

"The Chinese government's efforts to silence perceived sources of 'instability' since mid-February are eerily reminiscent of the campaign of denial about the Tiananmen massacre," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "By refusing to repudiate the military crackdown on June 4, 1989, the Chinese government effectively says that the same brutal strategy remains on the table."

Just weeks after the Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo became the world's sole imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate in December 2010, the Chinese leadership began an assault against government critics. Since February 16, 2011, dozens of lawyers, civil society activists, and bloggers have been detained on criminal charges by state authorities, while at least 20 others have been the victims of enforced disappearance. Between 100 and 200 other people have been subjected to an array of repressive measures, ranging from police summonses to house arrests. The government has also tightened internet censorship, forced several liberal newspaper editors to step down, and imposed new restrictions on foreign media reporting in Beijing.

The Tiananmen Mothers, a nongovernmental group of relatives of Tiananmen massacre victims that has compiled a list of at least 203 people killed in the June 1989 crackdown, issued an essay on May 31, 2011, linking the Tiananmen killings and subsequent cover-up to China's current wave of repression. "The situation since February of this year has been the worst since June Fourth," an English-language translation says. "It has been the harshest period since June 4, 1989. Silence has reigned across the country."

The Tiananmen massacre was precipitated by mass gatherings of workers, students, and others in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and other cities in April 1989 to demonstrate peacefully for a pluralistic political system. The government responded to the intensifying protests in late May 1989 by declaring martial law and authorizing the military to use deadly force.

In response, units of the Chinese military in Beijing and other cities on and around June 3 and 4 shot and killed an untold number of unarmed civilians, many of whom were not connected to the protests. Some people attacked army convoys and burned vehicles as the military moved through Beijing. The 1989 crackdown extended to major urban centers across China and included the arrests of thousands of people on charges of fomenting "counter-revolution" and on criminal charges, including disrupting social order and arson.

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IFJ's report documents the continued deterioration of press freedoms in Mainland China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. It takes its title in direct response to Chinese authorities adopting more repressive measures in 2013 reminiscent of the Mao era four decades ago, including direct censorship, Internet surveillance, abuse of legal process, harassment and intimidation, and televised confessions of journalists and bloggers without trial.

IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports. Some member content has been edited by IFEX. We invite you to contact [email protected] to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site.

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